


six stripes

by icarusinflight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Pride Parade, finding your people, mostly just thinking, queer as a self identifier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 11:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarusinflight/pseuds/icarusinflight
Summary: It's only paint, but to James it means so much more.James attends his first Pride Parade.





	six stripes

**Author's Note:**

> So I went to my cities PRIDE festival, and that inspired this fic(let).
> 
> This is my first time writing Jeddy so I hope you feel I've captured them!
> 
> Thank you ever so much to [shiftylinguini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiftylinguini/pseuds/shiftylinguini) for beta'ing, cheerleading, and helping my find these boys (both in reading and writing them)

“Are you sure about this?” Teddy asks, his fingers lifted up, just shy of James’ cheek. “You don’t have to do this. Nobody would think anything less of you. _I_ wouldn’t think anything less of you.”

“I’m sure,” James says. He’s not though, his stomach churning at the thought of what he’s about to do. His hands are shaking slightly, and he balls them into fists, trying to put a stop to the tremors.

He thinks Teddy can probably tell, but he doesn’t call James on it, searching his eyes one last time before he brings the paintbrush he’s holding up to James’ cheek. James closes his eyes to it, feeling the brush against his skin, and the wetness of the paint it leaves behind as Teddy spreads it along his cheekbone. Teddy repeats the motion on the other cheek, before placing the brush down on the table. He brings his hand up to cup James’ cheek, and James’ eyes fly open at the touch, watching Teddy. His fingers are light against James’ jawline, thumb just tracing his cheek, but not where the brush had touched. He turns James’ head, inspecting his work, before he blows gently on the skin, sending chills and shivers through James. He repeats the motion, turning James’ head with the lightest touch, but James has never needed much convincing when it comes to following Teddy; after a lifetime of looking up to him, James’ knows he’s so easy for Teddy sometimes, but he can’t find it in himself to care.

“Take a look,” Teddy says, fingers dropping away from his skin. Teddy mourns the loss, wants to step into Teddy to feel their touch again. Before he can, Teddy is bringing a handheld mirror up, placing it between the two of them.

The shock of colour is a surprise, the stripe of rainbow, the six bright colours striping across his cheeks grab his attention. His hands come up to the mirror, wrapping around Teddy’s fingers to hold the mirror, angling it so he can look properly. He turns his cheek to the other side, taking in the matching colour there too.

Teddy did a good job, which is no surprise. For as long as James can remember Teddy has been drawing and painting, and James is familiar with his steady paint brush lines. It’s not the first time Teddy’s painted his face, Teddy is aces at face painting, and always pulls out the brushes for birthdays and parties.

It’s never been like this though, never felt as important as these six colours, striped across his cheek and declaring who he is.

_I’m here, I’m queer._

It isn’t something he’s ever felt like yelling before. It took him a while to figure it all out. While it had felt like all his classmates had known what they wanted, staring and whistling at witches, James hadn’t felt like that, hadn’t felt the pull of that. He’d just thought he was wrong in some way, or a late bloomer. Dad always said it takes Potters a while to figure things out, and James had wondered if it would all click one day.

Then Teddy had brought his boyfriend to the family picnic, and it _had_ all clicked into place. It’s not that James hadn’t realised you could like wizards, it had just seemed like an abstract concept, not something he’d do. It wasn’t until he’d looked across and seen Teddy, who he’d looked up to for so long, sneaking a cheeky snog from his _boyfriend_ that James realised that maybe he could like boys too.

It’d taken a little while longer to come to grips with it. He’s not sure he really is yet.

But this feels like a step in the direction of it. A declaration. Showing who he is. For all that Teddy has the ability to change himself, he’s never hidden who he is, and James is envious of that now. He’s in awe of the ease with which Teddy has always been open, always been true to who he is, and he knows it’s not always been easy for him. Teddy’s told him there’s no shame in hiding, but he still feels a flush of shame sometimes when they’re out in public and he wants to reach out and take Teddy’s hand, link their fingers together, or place a kiss on his cheek.

He’s not quite there yet.  

“What do you think?” Teddy asks, dragging him from his thoughts. His cheeks run hot, shame flooding through him that he’s just been staring at himself all this time. He must look a right tosser, and Teddy is looking at him with concern, probably thinking James is freaking out, which isn’t too far from truth really.

“It’s beautiful,” he says, honestly. Their hands are still linked on the mirror, and James lets his hands fall, dragging Teddy’s down with it, as he finally allows himself to step into Teddy, leaning forward to brush his lips against Teddy’s.

Teddy lets him, like he always does, and the soft touch of his lips will never get old to James. Sometimes it feels inevitable that they would end up here, that after all the years James spent following Teddy around would end up with them together. There were confusing years in the middle, and for what felt like years James was never really sure if he wanted to be _like_ Teddy, or if he wanted to be _with_ Teddy. Never really sure if what he felt for Teddy was the same as what Albus did, even if he’d always known that what he felt for Teddy was nothing like what he felt for Albus.

It feels inevitable and impossible all at the same time, like James is the luckiest person in the world.

Teddy breaks the kiss with a huff of air against his lips, the sharing of breath and James can feel the ghost of a smile against his lips.

“Oi you,” Teddy breathes against his lips. “Don’t mess up my work of art.”

James huffs a laugh at that, tucking his chin into Teddy’s cheek, careful not to let his cheek make contact, in case he does just that. He feels safe here, tucked into Teddy’s side, and he can feel some of the pixies in his stomach settling. Teddy brings his spare hand up to his back, rubbing his hand softly in small circles, and James melts further into him, his body going loose against Teddy’s.

“I need to do my own makeup, babes,” Teddy says. “Then we need to leave, if you’re still sure about this.”

He’s not, not even close, but here with Teddy he feels like maybe he can. Teddy always makes him feel braver, like he’s borrowing from all the courage Teddy has. Put James on a Quidditch field and he’s fearless, but here, he needs the safety and courage that Teddy lends him.

“I want to,” he says, and he means it.

* * *

 

Teddy Apparates them home after, which James appreciates. His head is spinning, a mixture of the alcohol and adrenaline. He can’t stop smiling, can feel the paint cracking on his cheeks from it, but it does nothing to dull the happiness he feels.

It’s Teddy who moves them to the bathroom, pushing James down to sit on the edge of the tub, as he grabs a cloth, wetting it and bringing it up to James’ face, rubbing at his cheeks to wipe the cracking paint away. Not even that can dull his smile, as he looks up at Teddy, seeing Teddy’s own paint, the pink, yellow and blue stripes across his own cheeks. His hair matches the colours too, and there’s glitter in it, on his face, and James is sure he probably has it too. Teddy could do this with a Scourgify, disappear the paint with the wave of his wand, but instead he’s doing it by hand. It makes James feel warm and loved, Teddy’s hands on his chin and wiping the warm cloth against his skin.

“Thank you,” James says, words barely a whisper. If he closes his eyes he can still see the parade. Can see the rainbows, and all the people cheering as they had walked. For the first time in his life he’d felt like people had been seeing the real him, the whole him, something he usually hides away, even though half the time he isn’t even sure why he does so; some ingrained habit that leaves him hiding all his pieces from the world.

“You’re welcome.” Teddy scrubs the cloth against his cheek, rubbing hard enough that his cheek stings a little, before pulling the cloth from his cheek, throwing it towards the sink and dropping a kiss to James’ forehead. He cleans his own paint off while James showers, before they swap over, James towelling himself off and leaving glitter on his towel, not that he can find it in himself to mind.

“Was it everything you wanted it to be?” Teddy asks, when they’re in bed. James’ head is still buzzing, but he can feel the excitement starting to catch up to him. He knows he’s going to crash soon, fall into that deep sleep that comes with well-earned rest. James rolls closer to Teddy, tucking an arm around him, and slipping his leg between Teddy’s, hooking his foot around his ankle. He buries his head into Teddy’s shoulder, releasing a happy sigh when he wraps an arm around James.

“It was everything,” James replies honestly. “Can we do it again next year?”

“We can do it every year, babe.” Teddy places a kiss against his hair, and James turns his head just enough to give a lazy kiss to the skin where his head rests, just half a kiss really.

“I love you.” The words burst out of their own volition, far from the first time he’s said them to Teddy, but he feels almost overwhelmed by them, like his chest might burst if he tries to keep them inside. “I want to. With you. Every year.”

He’s already looking forward to next year, to all the years ahead of him, ahead of both of them. It's just a parade, just walking, but to James it feels like something more, like something has settled inside him. For the first time he feels like a part of something bigger, like he found his people tonight.

He’s sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Comments and Kudos give me life  
> Find me at tumblr at [candybarrnerd](http://candybarrnerd.tumblr.com/)


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